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Best prepaid carrier to have in South florida...

S

stuntiNIN0

Well-Known Member
So i've been with metro for 8 years... yes they've improved but they're just not there yet, and quite honestly im tired of investing my hope and premiums on their phones at release, just to be dissapointed by their network(here in south Florida). Yes i know theres many of you that live in areas where you 4G in consistent and you do 10/6 speeds like nothing, not the case for my area, and im not really looking to wait till metro decides they want to step up their game in my area(have been doing it since october 2011)
Right now i need something that is quick, consistent, and prepaid, i've been looking at all these prepaid MVNOs (StraighTalk H20 Net10 Solavei etc) im just wondering how they work here in the south Florida area.
Im not a heavy user, so unless their data throttling is critical i shouldnt have a problem as i dont do heavy tethering like many of you do.
HSPA+ 4G... i dont care really, im simply not going back to Metro's mediocre 3/1 speeds in my area.
What do i need?
-Good coverage in the South Florida area(Miami)
-CONSISTENT 4G speeds of 5/5 or higher(IN MY AREA!)
-Ability to stream a maximum of 5GB a month without being throttled (maybe less)
-To be able to use a GS3 or higher spec'd device (nothing inferior)
-The cheaper i can find the phone is also a plus but i'd pay up to $300 for the device itself
-A ~$50 monthly bill
If anyone has had experiences with any of these prepaid carreers, or can point me in the right direction in terms of where i can find what im looking for i'd really appreciate it
For those of you who are going to come here and advocate about how great metro is in your area and how it will be epic after the merger is done keep your comments to yourselves, i dont need to hear them.
AGAIN I LIVE IN THE MIAMI AREA
thanks in advance!
 
the only person who can say what coverage youll get is you. i could say saint petersburg has teh worlds best sprint coverage, but its because i live a block from the tower.

you didnt mention how much you had to play with for a gsm device (bear in mind a gsm phone is usually 100-200 dollars more expensive/valuable than its cdma counterpart, so make sure to save some money for that.

overall id suggest looking at coverage maps (and using sensorly.com) to find out which of the big 4 cover your home the best and pick a prepaid to go with it and snag a lg nexus 4 from google for only 250
 
I have heard from other metro users that in Miami metro rules but I guess not in your case I will consider tmobile pre paid and like shabby said the gsm phones will be more expensive but there's a couple of options you have
 
Well most of those you listed are T-Mobile prepaids so you'll want to see what their coverage is like in your area.
 
Shabbypenguin said:
you didnt mention how much you had to play with for a gsm device (bear in mind a gsm phone is usually 100-200 dollars more expensive/valuable than its cdma counterpart, so make sure to save some money for that...
Click to expand...
Fixed,
everybody thank you for your input keep it coming im looking to buy by next week.
 
so yea, nexus 4 16GB. then just figure out if tmobile has good coverage in your area. youll get tmobile 4g which will blow away metro's and have that all set up.

that is about the only thing i see meeting all your requirements, att has some pretty bad data limits (net10's is 1.5gb?) on their MVNO's.
 
so far yeah, i checked in sensorly.com and it looks like Tmobile has the best coverage in my area, it says 3G though, can anyone confirm that this is considering HSPA+ as 3G?
As far as the Nexus 4 idk, not a fan of LG, never really been too amazed by the phone, it doesnt have expandable memory and it's sealed, but then again i'd be subject to all these risky purchases with other GSM networks with the hole new 'blacklist' thing.
Can someone briefly state which of the MVNOs is best to have in terms of no throttling and better price point? Also which use Tmobile?
thanks
 
simplemobile or straight talk for tmobile. and even if it is just 3g, tmobiles 3g speeds are up to 13mbps

t-mobile-3g-e1340877089608.jpg


your other options besides a n4 are a very used sgs3 (make sure to buy teh t mobile version, international doesnt support tmo's network) or some other random low end new gsm device.
 
Shabbypenguin said:
simplemobile or straight talk for tmobile. and even if it is just 3g, tmobiles 3g speeds are up to 13mbps

t-mobile-3g-e1340877089608.jpg


your other options besides a n4 are a very used sgs3 (make sure to buy teh t mobile version, international doesnt support tmo's network) or some other random low end new gsm device.
Click to expand...

Yup. +21 speeds top out at around 15mbps from what I've seen. +42 on the other hand tops out much higher. Haven't seen how high but I've seen 25-30mbps all day.
 
stuntiNIN0 said:
So im taking it both Shabbypenguin and Fuzzy both made the switch out of metro to a Tmo powered MVNO ?
Click to expand...

negative. im on sprint awaiting for me to get the axe from my contract. when that happens i will be on tmobile's 30 dollar plan. i will then either save up enough money and hope the next nexus is some amaizng samsung beauty, or wait to see what metropcs brings out as its next big awesome phone and hope to get that.

sgs3 owners im not going anywhere i have teh phone still im still gunna be devving :P. my wife is going to be using it for personal reasons
 
Cool,
now can someone explain what the differences are between going actual Tmo prepaid or Straightalk ?
like i said i want whatever's cheaper, and whatever will allow me to get anywhere from 1-5 GBs on >5/5 speeds WITHOUT THROTTLING
 
stuntiNIN0 said:
Cool,
now can someone explain what the differences are between going actual Tmo prepaid or Straightalk ?
like i said i want whatever's cheaper, and whatever will allow me to get anywhere from 1-5 GBs on >5/5 speeds WITHOUT THROTTLING
Click to expand...
I know you said your tired of waiting on metro, but that being said now the merger is a done deal anywhere t mobile has coverage metro will get it.

What is your current plan, and price.

my wife has metro and pays $40 unlimited and unthrottled lte. Not going to find that price anywhere else so for us sticking with them until the merge is complete makes perfect sense.

I have the nexus 4 on t mo $30 plan and I am happy with it. No LTE in Florida yet but hspa + is damn good faster then metro's lte at the moment.
Other then upload. upload is less then 3mbs as there is limitations in the 3g technology.
The $30 tmo plan gives 100 mins of talk and up to 5gbs unthrottled then throttled after that.
Straight talk throttles after excessive use, some its 2-5gbs others can hit 10-12 its kind of a hit or miss I guess, Solavei is $49 unlimited but throttled at 4gbs.
The other tracfone derivatives would be similar to straight talk I think.
if the current metro plan is good and you just cant wait can you get by on 100 mins, or use a voip until metro starts using the gsm network? Basically pay for 2 phones one on tmo one on metro. should be this year.
I dont know when tmo will have LTE rolled out in miami but when that happens the current metro phones should be able to use it for expanded spectrum and then that phone should get 30+mbs down 10+ up.
 
new optimus said:
I know you said your tired of waiting on metro, but that being said now the merger is a done deal anywhere t mobile has coverage metro will get it.

What is your current plan, and price.

my wife has metro and pays $40 unlimited and unthrottled lte. Not going to find that price anywhere else so for us sticking with them until the merge is complete makes perfect sense.

I have the nexus 4 on t mo $30 plan and I am happy with it. No LTE in Florida yet but hspa + is damn good faster then metro's lte at the moment.
Other then upload. upload is less then 3mbs as there is limitations in the 3g technology.
The $30 tmo plan gives 100 mins of talk and up to 5gbs unthrottled then throttled after that.
Straight talk throttles after excessive use, some its 2-5gbs others can hit 10-12 its kind of a hit or miss I guess, Solavei is $49 unlimited but throttled at 4gbs.
The other tracfone derivatives would be similar to straight talk I think.
if the current metro plan is good and you just cant wait can you get by on 100 mins, or use a voip until metro starts using the gsm network? Basically pay for 2 phones one on tmo one on metro. should be this year.
I dont know when tmo will have LTE rolled out in miami but when that happens the current metro phones should be able to use it for expanded spectrum and then that phone should get 30+mbs down 10+ up.
Click to expand...
thank you for your input, you having metro and Tmo side to side in FL very well know what im dealing with, its just not acceptable and im not trynna wait anymore so i think ill be going Tmobile, im not sure if through Tmo directly or through a Tmo network using MVNO.
i got a question for you
That $30 plan you have, is that all the minutes you get period, or does it not count after 9 pm and weekends like the old days? also, what are your speeds and data usage allowance for the $30 Tmo plan?
thanks in advamce
 
100 minutes that's it. data is great though 5gbs at full speed then gets slowed to 2g speeds but I have yet to get to 5gbs in one month.
I get 8 to 14mbs per second download speeds at my house. better coverage areas can see 25mbs+
 
new optimus said:
100 minutes that's it. data is great though 5gbs at full speed then gets slowed to 2g speeds but I have yet to get to 5gbs in one month.
I get 8 to 14mbs per second download speeds at my house. better coverage areas can see 25mbs+
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sounds good, i barely talk on the phone anyways.
The question is...
What route should i go?
Tmo(directly) just like you have it? or Tmo through MVNO (StraighTalk/Solavei)?
Given i need whatever is going to be consistent with the speeds above mentioned, AND $50/mo or less
 
stuntiNIN0 said:
sounds good, i barely talk on the phone anyways.
The question is...
What route should i go?
Tmo(directly) just like you have it? or Tmo through MVNO (StraighTalk/Solavei)?
Given i need whatever is going to be consistent with the speeds above mentioned, AND $50/mo or less
Click to expand...

I've been using Solavei in Miami for 8 months and have been getting great speeds on my Nexus 4. Here are a few links that will answer your questions:

Solavei speed test in Miami, FL: Solavei Speed Test | 4G Mobile Share

Solavei versus Tmobile: Dare to Compare: Solavei vs. Tmobile | 4G Mobile Share
 
stuntiNIN0 said:
thank you for your input, you having metro and Tmo side to side in FL very well know what im dealing with, its just not acceptable and im not trynna wait anymore so i think ill be going Tmobile, im not sure if through Tmo directly or through a Tmo network using MVNO.
i got a question for you
That $30 plan you have, is that all the minutes you get period, or does it not count after 9 pm and weekends like the old days? also, what are your speeds and data usage allowance for the $30 Tmo plan?
thanks in advamce
Click to expand...

Extra minutes are like 10 cents each so if there ever a month where it's close, there is an option to get more and it's not outrageous.
 
stuntiNIN0 said:
sounds good, i barely talk on the phone anyways.
The question is...
What route should i go?
Tmo(directly) just like you have it? or Tmo through MVNO (StraighTalk/Solavei)?
Given i need whatever is going to be consistent with the speeds above mentioned, AND $50/mo or less
Click to expand...


I don't talk on the phone a lot and while I loved the $30 Tmob plan, I found that every time I did talk on the phone I was always thinking about those minutes. So I figured an extra $15 bucks, $10 if you know where to look, was worth it for unlimited everything. $45, $50 or $30 a month and 20+ mbps can't be beat. Despite all the bad reviews mvnos get with cutting people off with no warning, I've been using ST for 8 months or so and every month I've been right at or surpassed the invisible data cap some complain about. Last month I used the most I've ever used, 12gigs and no problems.
 
Well thanks everyone for the input.
As of now im using my metro S3 although i did crack the screen after the game 6 win last week. phone works fine and all but...

I DO have a BNIB Tmo S4 (SGH-M919) just sitting next to me,
I was actually hoping to connect it with Metro since FINALLY they're gonna make upgrades in the South FLA market, or any market for that matter its just a matter of time.
However, i dont know how long this is going to take... i was hoping to get my hands on a Metro SIM from someone in one of the 'BYOD ready' markets but thats not happening apparently since noone has chimed in, i guess i could also wait until Miami is officialy 'BYOD ready' which has been speculated to be 'next week' since the 12th, that also doesnt seem like is happening either.
Im running out of options, at this point im just considering what to do before my return-period expires.
Any input would be greatly appreciated
 
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